


i'm all about you

by triviaeuphoria



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Author is tired, Background Relationships, Birthday Party, Football | Soccer, Gay Panic, Getting Together, Holding, Holding Hands, Karaoke, M/M, Misunderstandings, POV Alternating, Slow Burn, Verkwan Are Dramatic, boo seungkwan is cute sexy and ANGRY, coach!seungkwan, false start, idk how to tag this ugh, one sided enemies to friends to lovers, seungkwan voice I'm Kelly's Biggest Fan, strong man!vernon, vernon's big beefy arms are the real stars of the show, very minimal soccer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27892483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/triviaeuphoria/pseuds/triviaeuphoria
Summary: SECURITY NEEDED URGENTLYSecurity expert needed for local soccer team.  Must be able to carry above 40 kgs. Experience not necessary.Contact Kwon Soonyoung at edwardkwon@gmail.comagainst his better judgment and mostly out of amusement, hansol fills in the application form for this job. it’s not like they’ll look at his responses and pictures and think, ‘ah yes, this is thestrong manwe were looking for.’ right?or: "enthusiastic" soccer coach boo seungkwan is getting on soonyoung's nerves so he decides to do something about it. enter: "security expert" chwe hansol, who has never lifted anything heavier than a coffee bean bag in his life.
Relationships: Boo Seungkwan/Chwe Hansol | Vernon, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 30
Kudos: 179
Collections: Match Point: The SEVENTEEN Sports Fic Fest





	1. first half

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [SVTSportsFest](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/SVTSportsFest) collection. 



> WELCOME TO THIS MESS idk all that much about soccer but i know a thing or two about boo seungkwan and having a crush on someone so beautiful you're Angry about it and the result of that knowledge has brought you this today! wip but i will update soon™ hope you like this, kudos and comments much appreciated as always :D

" _KWON SOONYOUNG_.”

there’s a collective groan heard across the soccer field, and seungkwan hears it but frankly speaking, he does not _care_. he can also hear his assistant wonwoo calling out to him but he stalks to the field, fists balled up at his sides and stops inches away from soonyoung’s grinning face. “hey coach,” he says, still smiling, and seungkwan wants so badly to kick him in the shins or, or something that won’t critically injure his best striker, but he’s never been more annoyed with soonyoung in his life, he thinks. 

“don’t _hey coach_ me,” seungkwan hisses. “can you please, for the love of fuck, keep your eye on the ball?” 

“i am!” 

“you are not!” every time seungkwan looked soonyoung in the past fifteen minutes, he’s been making faces at the team’s goalkeeper, jihoon – also his boyfriend. 

a whistle blows in the distance, they look towards the source of the sound. the referee – an older man, walking towards them, looking _tired_. “seungkwan-sii—” he starts.

“i know, i know,” seungkwan interrupts him, waving his hand. “soonyoung, if you lose us this match, i _will_ bench you for the whole season.” 

this match, objectively speaking, isn’t that important. their local team is playing another local team from a few cities over. there’s no Big Game, because they all are. to seungkwan, anyway. his team was already good when he was given them, but a year in, they’re probably the best in the region. they’ve brought home trophies and medals and he’s immensely proud of everyone. his reputation as a young coach precedes him – but so does something else. 

“your temper is more likely to get us kicked off the league than me wanting to look at my boyfriend, you know,” soonyoung says to him later in the locker room while they all changed into their regular clothes (they won, obviously. 5-0). “running onto the field without calling for a timeout and yelling at your own team member, i mean, really!” 

“you are lucky i did it now at a friendly match, hyung!” seungkwan argues (soonyoung unfortunately is two years older than him, and a little shit, so he doesn’t let him drop honorifics off the field). “imagine if it was at a...a semi-final!” 

“you _have_ done that though,” jeonghan pipes up from behind them. 

“shh,” seungcheol says, rubbing jeonghan’s shoulder. “don’t remind him.” 

seungkwan sighs dramatically. “it was almost two years ago,” he starts, earning a collective groan from the team, “and we were in the lead by two points. second half. an easy win. but it was an away game and of course the referee from a previous tournament remembered me and had some weird agenda against me because when the other team’s player nearly caused an injury, and i very rightly called him out on it, the referee announced that our team was disqualified because of ‘misconduct’, apparently turning a blind eye to the _actual_ misconduct.” the team was pretty pissed off too and validated his following blow-up where he was so close to giving the whole place the finger and walking away but thankfully did _not_. funnily enough, they haven’t been invited to that stadium since. but he also just...yells a lot. at the other team, at referees, at his own team because sometimes they (read: kwon soonyoung for the most part) can be insufferable too. so. 

maybe he does have a bit of a problem. but if only people were like him and not fucking _annoying_ , he wouldn’t be! it’s really that simple. 

he ends the day with patting his players on the back and reminding them that they were expected to be at the university soccer field the next day, six am sharp, rolling his eyes at their fading complaints. he smiles faintly at soonyoung and jihoon holding hands as they leave, remembering that they are his friends and he _did_ technically get them together so whatever happened during the game that day was inadvertently his fault. he sighs and shoulders his own bag and leaves. 

⚽

“we need to talk about seungkwan.”

of all the things wonwoo was expecting when he was dragged into the locker room after practice by his striker, this was not in the top ten. although, when seungkwan spent much of half-time screaming at soonyoung to ‘use your eyes to aim the ball at the goal post and not gawk at your boyfriend’s ass _who allowed there to be couples on the team?!’_ the other day (he did), he should've known it would come up sooner than later.

so wonwoo doesn’t let any emotion other than concern show on his face as soonyoung sits him down on a bench with a hand on his shoulder. “what’s up?”

“he needs to chill,” soonyoung whines, and yup, _that’s_ more like him, speaking almost in a pout, his damp blond hair flopping onto his forehead. “we can’t go a day without him screaming his head off at m–at everyone for the tiniest things! it wastes precious time!”

wonwoo nods. “i understand that, i do. but you _were_ distracted. like, almost to a harmful-to-the-team level of distracted.”

soonyoung flushes and averts his gaze. “it’s not my fault jihoon wore the shorts that make his butt look out of this world. have you seen it? it’s so _cute_ and—”

“please stop,” wonwoo begs. “i...okay. can you tell him to wear it at home and not on the field?”

“ugh. fine.” 

he thinks it’s the end of the discussion, but soonyoung apparently has a second wind. “okay, but! he does this at actual games!” now he has his arms up in the air in frustration. “wonwoo-yah, _he_ is risking our place in the league. can’t we lock him up during games? it’s bad for morale.” he’s joking, because he’s still using his dramatic voice, and seungkwan and soonyoung are really close outside of the field, so he laughs and shakes his head.

“what if we got him laid?” 

“excuse me?”

soonyoung suddenly has a glint in his eye. “y’know, seungcheol hyung was super aggressive before him and jeonghannie hyung hooked up at that afterparty and now they’re insufferable and he’s the biggest softie ever.”

“okay, first of all, seungcheol hyung has always been a softie, jeonghan hyung just gets that side out of him on the field which is actually bad for us seeing as he’s our attacker and needs to _attack_ , and saying that all seungkwan needs to calm down is have sex is really invasive, he’s so hard on you because he wants you guys to be the best team you can be and and...you’re not even listening.” wonwoo rolls his eyes at soonyoung suddenly vibrating in excitement, fists clenched in front of him and grinning from ear to ear. “what?” 

soonyoung gets up and shoulders his bag. “nothing, you’re right, that was a bad idea. i have a better one! listen to this…” 

⚽

chwe hansol hates his job.

his roommate and best friend jisoo nags him every other day to quit and get a new one, but – and this is no offence to his very good friend – jisoo has never had to think about things like this. he's able to afford takeout every other day, and doesn’t have to juggle work and his master’s thesis. he’s _fine_. and he’s a good person, one of the best, hansol would argue, just a little bit...aloof. when they first met during orientation week, hansol bumped into him and spilled his orange drink on jisoo’s definitely-designer blazer. instead of making a big deal out of it, jisoo laughed and waved off hansol’s frantic apologies, and invited him to join his group.

somehow by the end of the day, hansol had given jisoo his number, which he _never_ did. 

“you thought i was cute,” jisoo teased him once. 

hansol did, but he wasn’t going to just admit that and help his friend’s head grow bigger than it was. his tiny crush withered and disappeared after knowing jisoo for about a month anyway. so. 

anyway, hansol hates his internship at this stuffy office where he makes everyone coffee and sends emails to other corporate bigheads with nothing else to do because they have minions like himself to do all the work for them. most of the time he can will himself to space out and not think too much about his surroundings, do his work on auto-pilot, you know, but sometimes, things happen that will twist his dick into knots and he can’t take it.

hansol isn't sure what the last straw for him to quit is. maybe it’s because he misses the fifth team meeting that month while being sent on a coffee run even though he was promised being able to sit in and make notes, instead he misses yet another opportunity to _learn_ from these people because they only see their employees as machines or convenient until they aren’t anymore. it’s probably because he’s an intern, but he’s about two months in and they’re leading him on about keeping him after his internship period is over, but not really saying it so he’s in edge at all times, constantly anxious.

jisoo makes him dinner, which he appreciates, because they both know it’s hansol’s turn to do it, but he mostly just wants to lie in bed forever. 

after dinner though, the two of them sit on the couch, and hansol scrolls through the campus jobs community page, hoping to see something remotely related to his field, but it’s impossible. 

“you know, i have an uncle i could talk to,” jisoo says. “just for an interview,” he adds quickly when hansol opens his mouth to respond. “i know you want to get to places without connections but it’s hard. i can guarantee that you’ll be treated well, and won’t be taken for granted if you get it. you’ll grow steadily. and it’ll look great on your resume, if you eventually decide to leave or whatever. for an interview at least? you’ll get the job, but it won’t be because of anything but your talent.” 

hansol sighs, opens up a draft and sends jisoo’s email his updated cv wordlessly. there’s no point in fighting it at this point. and he might not even make it past interviews. 

jisoo smiles and ruffles his hair before getting up and going to his room for the rest of the evening, probably. hansol continues scrolling before his eye catches sight of a poster with a graphic of a cartoon soccer player kicking a ball seemingly towards the reader and text that says:

_SECURITY NEEDED URGENTLY_

_Security needed for local soccer team. Must be able to carry above 40 kgs. Experience not necessary._ _  
_ _Contact Kwon Soonyoung at edwardkwon@gmail.com_

against his better judgment and mostly out of amusement, hansol fills in the application form for this job. it’s not like they’ll look at his responses and pictures and think, ‘ah yes, this is the _strong man_ we were looking for.’ right?

—

he ends up being called in for an interview. the guy on the phone sounds super enthusiastic, and talked as if hansol had already got the job, which just doesn’t seem reasonable because he has zero experience in the field of security. he doesn’t even know what they need security for. this soccer team is local, and hardly calls for heavy security – no one's going to point a gun at them or anything. 

but what does hansol know? 

the interview is supposed to take place at a fast food place, and hansol arrives five minutes late exactly. he rushes in, almost getting his coat stuck in the entrance, mumbling apologies to people he was barely grazing past and scanning the place for kwon soonyoung. 

he'd done his research – soonyoung is the pelican-tigers striker. he has full cheeks, a big smile on his face in every picture, and the highest number of goals made in a season two years in a row. he’s the best in the city apparently.

the person now sitting opposite him exudes none of the intimidating energy hansol was expecting. 

“hi!” soonyoung says, as hansol sits down. “welcome to the interview! are you nervous?”

hansol clears his throat. soonyoung may not look scary, but the dude sitting next to him _does_. nothing particularly about him, just the sheer blankness of his face, hansol supposes. 

he keeps his gaze on soonyoung. “yeah, a bit i guess. i don’t know if you saw my resume, but i don’t actually have any experience in security.”

soonyoung nods. “yeah, did see that. but your pictures...you seem strong, are you strong?”

“oh my god, soonyoung,” his friend says, staring at soonyoung. “you can’t just – we’ve been over this!”

“it’s an interview question!” soonyoung pouts and slumps into his seat. “ _you_ do it, then.” 

“fine. hi, i’m jihoon, i’m the goalie of the team, i apologise for my boyfriend’s behaviour.” 

“it’s okay,” hansol replies, blinking. boyfriend. oh. “to answer your question, uh, i think i’m quite strong, yeah. i used to lift heavy coffee bean bags at my last job so.”

jihoon and soonyoung glance at each other and look back at him. hansol shifts a little uncomfortably in his place. he has a bad feeling about this ‘interview’ and blurts – “i’m sorry but what exactly is this job? like, is it actually a security job? you’re not looking for someone to have a threesome or something right? because like, i’m flattered and all, and you both seem _great_ , but i’m not looking to do anything like that—”

soonyoung literally _guffaws_ and jihoon laughs like he has a hairball stuck in his throat. hansol gives them a minute to let it all out but that answers his question at least. soonyoung is the first to kind of recover. he wipes his eye and says, “jihoon-ah, we have to take him, he’s cute _and_ funny. he’ll love him.” 

hansol picks up on that. “who?” he asks.

“we'll tell you in a sec, but first. what's your coffee order?”

“oh i rarely drink coffee but only because i was a barista at my last job, and generally hung around a lot of coffee. people’s gross orders put me off, frankly. i like black coffee though, it’s the only thing that keeps me up when i have deadlines.”

jihoon sits up now. “wait, a barista. can you make iced americanos?”

hansol raises an eyebrow. “uh, yeah? it’s not that hard, actually. and my roommate jisoo has a nespresso, so we can make the espresso and. well, you know. anyway, anyone who knows how to search for it online can make them.”

at this point, both men are looking at hansol like he holds all the answers to the universe’s secrets and it’s making him kinda uncomfortable but more confident that he’s probably getting the job. 

“okay so our coach right he's a very handsome guy—”

"soonyoung _please_."

“it's important! anyway. _super_ cute. he's nice but has no impulse control and runs onto the field to yell at me and basically anyone who doesn't play the game properly and while that's noble and shit we might get kicked out of the league.” he pauses to take a deep breath. intertwines his fingers together and says, “we are asking you to hold him back when he does this.” 

no way. “you want to pay me to hold a guy back from running to a soccer field?” hansol asks. 

“he’s the _coach_!”

“...the coach. does he know you’re doing this?”

neither of them answer the question, but the silence pretty much explains it. “it’s that bad?”

they nod. 


	2. half-time

the first game of a new season always makes seungkwan feel like there's electricity flowing through his veins. some would blame his multiple cups of coffee throughout the day, three before he’s even got to the field, but some don’t know how much he loves soccer. he started playing when he was nine, encouraged by his father, bringing them closer than ever. he got into his school team, middle and high school, went on to get a scholarship to play at the university he was applying to, and not once did his love waver. 

he arrives earlier than most, and makes his way first to the field itself, to get a feel of the place. they've played here before, it's not unfamiliar at all so he feels good about their chances. as long as nothing surprises him, that's all. 

“excuse me?” 

seungkwan jumps. “jesus fucking christ, make a noise—” he turns around, muttering curses that die down the second his eyes fall on the source of the voice. 

the most beautiful man on earth is looking at him apologetically. he has curly brown hair and the sharpest jawline and the dorkiest smile and  _ oh no _ . “i'm sorry, i really didn't mean to startle you,” he says sincerely, but he’s definitely fighting the urge to laugh. “i was just looking for the entrance to the field? i was told there's a way into it from the back and i'm lost.” he tilts his head like a puppy, and it's everything seungkwan can do to stop himself from pulling his phone out to show this stranger the striking resemblance he has to his family dog. that's weird. don't do weird things in front of the cute boy, please. 

“uh,” he manages.  _ get it together _ . “you know what, i'm headed to the locker rooms right now, which is super close. you can follow me.” 

they don’t speak as they walk side-by-side, but the guy hums a soft tune to himself. seungkwan does his breathing exercises to calm down and finally says, “you here to watch the match?” 

_ obviously, you fool. you absolute dolt.  _ to be honest, seungkwan is a lot better at talking to cute boys than...well, right now. he’s an extravert, he likes making friends, and he knows what he likes within seconds. this boy however 1) startled him and so 2) he’s still trying to process that such a beautiful human being actually exists.

“yeah! it’s my first time actually, but i’m looking forward to it.”

“you came to your first game alone?” seungkwan asks. maybe this is his way of asking if he’s on a date. so what. 

the guy nods. “i just. don’t know a lot of people here,” he replies. “thought this might be a good way to do that, i guess.” he wrinkles his forehead. “i don’t know why. lots of people from college come to these things?” 

seungkwan nods in understanding. “well, you’ve made a friend in me,” he says, putting out his hand to shake. “i’m seungkwan! i’m with the team.” he internally cringes at his own version of ‘i’m with the band’ that slipped out, but there’s no going back now. he just hopes this angel from the heavens above won’t ask him why he’s associated with a team with such a goofy name and won’t judge their skills based off that.

“oh! wow! uh, i’m hansol!” suddenly he looks nervous too. why? seungkwan never thought himself to be intimidating. he just doesn’t have it in him unless he’s on the field and glaring at the other coach. and hansol is... _ he _ should be the one intimidated. 

before making his way into the locker room, seungkwan looks back at beautiful angel hansol, and says, “just over there, take a right turn, and you’ll see it!”

hansol says, “thanks! i’ll see you out there!” and jogs off. 

seungkwan barely registers that – probably meant from the stands – and walks into the locker room – no, floats. the team is already there, chattering away, half-dressed, mostly in towels. no one really notices seungkwan until he sighs dreamily. 

“hey coach,” soonyoung says, walking right to him, slightly dripping. 

“hii,” seungkwan replies, walking past him, not even caring that their shoulders brushed against each other and his sleeve is soaked. 

“uh, your shirt – why aren't you yelling at me right now? hello? tell me how much the shirt costs! who  _ are _ you?” soonyoung looks at him, flabbergasted. the rest of the team also turn to them now, conversation dying down.

“you feeling okay, seungkwan?” seungcheol asks, concerned. “are you nervous about today’s game? because you know we’ll crush.” 

seungkwan waves him away and shakes his head. “all of you need to calm down,” he says, earning a collective gasp. and sure, maybe that’s rich coming from him. but nothing in the world could piss him off today. probably. “i’m  _ fine _ . i have total confidence in you.”

“now we  _ know _ something is wrong,” junhui mutters, but not soft enough for everyone to not hear. “you’ve never believed in us,” he adds louder. 

“well, i know nothing can go wrong today,” seungkwan says. “because today, my friends, my students, my disciples...i met the love of my life.” 

no one responds for a few seconds, but then he feels a hand thump him in the back. “well done, kwan-ah!” jeonghan exclaims. “does this mean no more 6am practices because you’ll be too busy pillow-talking with this mystery person?”

seungkwan picks up a damp towel from a hook and flings it at jeonghan, who yelps. “anyway,” he says, “don’t embarrass me in front of him. let’s go team!” 

⚽

hansol starts to feel nervous, and wonder if he’s being pranked. he’s waiting for...something to happen. the coach. hansol has been watching the back of his head for most of the first half but the dude will not do anything remotely aggressive. 

the cute guy he met before the game is there too and hansol more than once lets his gaze linger on him instead of his target. he has reddish hair, and he’s a little shorter than him, but has the brightest eyes and the cutest nose.

he’s not that far away, but enough that they won’t see him coming. this whole situation starts to feel extremely fishy to him, but if anything maybe he can ask the guy to hang out or something. go on a date, hey. jisoo would be so proud of him. 

the ball drops five minutes before half-time – metaphorically, in hansol’s head. it happens so fast; on the field, out of nowhere, the opposing team manages to steal the ball from one of the tiger-pelicans, and pass it to each other and suddenly the ball is on the other side of the court. hansol catches jihoon getting flustered and jump into  _ entirely _ the wrong direction and miss the ball as the other team scores and there’s a beat of silence, because apparently no one can believe it. 

especially the  _ coach _ . the metaphorical ball drops because hansol immediately focuses on the two men on the sidelines, and who he thought was the coach all along scratches his head as if in confusion but he does nothing compared to hansol’s new friend seungkwan who all but starts to literally  _ stomp _ towards the field, to where jihoon is while the crowd cheers. it’s like he’s on auto pilot, but hansol jogs as fast as he can to seungkwan, hearing him yelling, “what the hell lee jihoon how could you not see where he was aiming i’m coming for you i’m about to call a — hey, what gives?” 

what gives is that the second he realised that seungkwan is the coach, hansol's brain goes straight to auto-pilot and he manages to get to the coach in time and wraps his arms around his waist, no thinking at all, head  _ empty _ , and he cannot believe he signed up for this, and  _ why _ did the cute guy have to be like this, asking him out would be  _ so _ awkward now because they’re probably going to be awkward enemies based on how he reacts to things he doesn’t like. 

and trust hansol, seungkwan does  _ not _ like this. he’s picked seungkwan up and is struggling to keep him from strangling their – actually quite competent – goalie. hansol has hair in his eyes and mouth and seungkwan will  _ not _ stop wriggling and screaming. 

“it’s okay!” hansol tries to yell above the noise. he finally drops seungkwan on his feet when they are far enough away from the field. 

seungkwan looks back at hansol, confused and... _ hurt _ ? betrayed? why does he feel like the biggest asshole right now, what the fuck. 

“seungkwan,” says a breathless voice from behind them. it’s the other man who hansol thought was the actual target of all this. he now notices the lanyard around his neck, with a card that identifies him as  _ jeon wonwoo - assistant coach _ . 

oh.

“what is going on?” seungkwan asks – no  _ demands _ . he’s looking from hansol to wonwoo. 

“i can explain, seungkwan,” wonwoo replies. “let’s sit down and—” 

“no, no sitting down,” seungkwan interrupts. “why did you grab me?” he asks hansol now. 

hansol opens his mouth to answer, does not know how to, shuts his mouth and looks down at his feet. 

—

hansol meets the rest of the team during half-time, although ‘meets’ is a loose term. in the fifteen minutes they’ve got, he watches everyone as seungkwan rips soonyoung a new one, screaming obscenities that he feels like even he as an adult shouldn’t hear, but all soonyoung is doing is smiling back. 

“is it always like this?” he asks the person closest to him, a giant whose jersey goes down to just below his midriff. 

“today’s worse,” the giant responds. “i guess that’s because of the added bonus that  _ you’re _ here.”

“seungkwan, you’re out of control,” soonyoung manages to get in between the coach’s deep breaths, but that obviously launches him into another rant.

“ _ i’m  _ out of control?! do you know who that is?! that’s—” he stops, beet red, and his head immediately turns to the spot of the crowd that hansol is in. their eyes meet, and hansol waves at him. idiot. 

seungkwan’s shoulders – that were high in the air from all the...rage – deflate. “he’s a very nice stranger that you roped into your bullshit just to fuck with me and i just don’t appreciate it.” 

“i think we should leave them to it and stretch,” someone nearby says softly. there are murmurs of assent, and they disperse. hansol doesn’t really know what to do, but jihoon finds him and beckons to follow. 

“thanks for saving me,” jihoon says, grinning cheekily. “i didn’t mean to miss that goal, but it was a rookie mistake so seungkwan would’ve, i dunno, benched me or something.” 

hansol has no words. the seungkwan he met in the morning was so different to the coach he held back from his player. 

he should quit right now. 

a voice announcing the start of the next half of the game booms across the field. hansol follows the team out, keeping his distance from seungkwan, dragging his feet. 

⚽

seungkwan wants the ground to swallow him whole. he also wants soonyoung to be swallowed with him so they can live out eternity in hell together. not only did he go behind seungkwan’s back to – to get a guy? to hold seungkwan back and carry him off the field like he’s a baby? what the fuck even. he can’t  _ look  _ at wonwoo, who’s trying to get his attention with his apologetic eyes and pouty mouth and...fuck him! fuck them all! 

he manages to not run to the field for the rest of the game – he  _ wants  _ to, but the knowledge that hansol is right there, hovering, waiting to  _ strike _ , does enough to stop him. there’s literally no reason for hansol to be here anymore. wow! that sure worked like a treat!

he feels a hand on his arm just then, and he jumps. 

“sorry,” hansol says, moving his hand. “you just. had a look.” 

“a look?”

“like you were going to murder someone. possibly soonyoung-ssi. again.” he coughs. “it’s kind of my job to stop you from doing that.”

seungkwan flushes. “i was trying to. i can’t believe soonyoung hyung hired a bodyguard.”

“i think he’s trying to protect you too, for what it’s worth.” seungkwan stares at him, confused, so he continues, “well, jihoon-ssi told me that you’ve been threatened to be kicked out of leagues before because you, uh—” 

“fight unfair treatment towards my team, just because the board doesn’t like me. and no one wants that.” 

“...yeah.” 

seungkwan shrugs. hansol looks like he’s waiting for a story, but honestly, they’re up by only a point with ten minutes to spare, and  _ someone _ needs to score a goal for them so at least it’s not an embarrassing win. bodyguard man can wait. 

⚽

the team wins because choi seungcheol is insane and dramatic and scores a goal at the last possible second, and grins up at the stands teeth and all. after receiving a big kiss from his boyfriend (??? is this team just a bunch of couples), yoon jeonghan, he points at the coaches and yells, “i did that for you!” while walking steadily towards a fighting-off-a-grin seungkwan and a jumping wonwoo. 

hansol doesn’t really care for sports. his dad tried to get him into tennis when he was ten, but he really just wanted to stay at home and play video games. none of his friends played, so he didn’t feel compelled to. 

this quickly changes as he stands beside boo seungkwan and watches the tiger-pelicans (still not over the name that someone is yet to explain to him) play. he starts to cheer for them, and be part of the huddle before the game. seungkwan calms down significantly during games, even though hansol catches him shaking sometimes when someone on the team screws up even slightly. sometimes they very obviously miss the ball while passing, or jihoon comes dangerously close to letting the other team score, or jeonghan slaps seungcheol’s ass when he runs past the attacker, and seungkwan can’t stop himself. 

thankfully, that’s what hansol is there for. 

he lets seungkwan make it to the sideline before grabbing him by the back of his collar and looping an arm around his chest. 

“hansol, let me  _ go _ , let me at him, he did that on purpose—kim mingyu, you better hide once this is over!” 

seungkwan is surprisingly quite strong – but not enough. he wiggles so much, and whines, oh  _ god _ does he whine. hansol almost falls for his pout, and big eyes one too many times before remembering what he’s even here for. wonwoo just stands and laughs. hansol finally calls him out for it during a particularly annoying game because he’s had to restrain seungkwan thrice and half-time only just ended.

“you could help me, you know,” he says, narrowly avoiding being kicked in the balls.

“no way, this is way funnier,” wonwoo smirks, and that was a mistake because seungkwan hears it and charges at him instead.

“this is not a laughing matter, jeon wonwoo!” seungkwan screams, and charges now at wonwoo instead. he manages to push him to the ground and hansol knows people in the stands close to them have stopped paying attention to the actual game and are looking at the three of them now.

wonwoo looks at hansol, panicked as he tries to roll away from seungkwan. “hello?  _ security _ ?” 

hansol smiles sweetly at the coach. “sorry, this is fucking  _ hilarious _ .” 

the game ends with their team winning 3-2, and seungkwan forgets everything that happened before it. 

⚽

seungkwan doesn’t know how it happens, but hansol starts showing up to practice. he refrains from grabbing seungkwan from the waist, only watching from the distance, and providing the players – his new best friends apparently – with water when they ask. 

“thanks hansollie,” mingyu says, after gulping down a whole bottle in record time. 

_ hansollie?  _

it’s not that seungkwan hates having hansol around. it’s  _ not _ . it’s the little jump his heart does when he sees hansol. it’s the stupid...urge to aggressively wag a finger at jeonghan or chan for the littlest things so he’ll be engulfed by hansol’s arms and carried away during games. the strength he barely uses to just. lift seungkwan off the ground makes him want to swoon like a victorian woman. it’s  _ so _ infuriating. 

mingyu catches seungkwan glaring at him and frowns at him. “what?” he mouths. 

seungkwan goes up to him and pulls his arm to bring his ear to the same level as his mouth because kim mingyu’s only personality traits are his height and his header. “since when are you such good friends with him?” seungkwan whispers. 

mingyu laughs and ruffles seungkwan’s hair, as he easily straightens up. “you need to lighten up,” he says. “don’t you like having him around?”

“i don’t know him.” 

“no? i thought you called him, hmm what was it? the love of your life?”

“shut up!” 

seungkwan shoves a shaking mingyu away with as much strength as he can muster. “five laps around the field, now,” he instructs, mostly out of spite, but also because mingyu’s laugh is so loud it catches hansol’s attention and he’s looking at them, eyebrows raised. 

mingyu sticks his tongue out at him but starts to jog because he's an obedient puppy. unfortunately the damage had been done, and hansol is walking over to him. 

“what was all that about?” he asks. today he's in  _ shorts _ and it's the worst thing to ever happen to seungkwan. his pale ass legs are out, and they almost rival junhui's. he tends to wear baggier t-shirts daily, today not being an exception. he hid his beautiful hair in a hat which upset seungkwan greatly at first but then he realised that actually he can form sentences when he can't see it. 

“kim mingyu is my mortal enemy,” seungkwan replies. 

“i thought that was soonyoung.” 

“soonyoung is my arch nemesis.” 

he hears a laugh being stifled and has to bite his lower lip to keep from smiling. 

“because there's a difference between the two.” 

“of course.” 

the thing is. the  _ thing _ is that they sometimes do this, stand on the sides, and hansol distracts seungkwan from paying attention to the fuckshit soonyoung does, from yelling at seungcheol for making eyes at jeonghan. he doesn’t even need to physically touch him to do it. they just talk. hansol has a  _ cat _ which is mortifying but his voice gets soft when he talks about her, and he shows him pictures of her. 

today, seungkwan follows hansol’s hand as it scratches his chin and points at mingyu panting as he laughs so hard he’s bending over. he joins in because, well, it’s pretty hilarious, but also because a part of his brain acknowledges that if  _ he _ didn’t send mingyu on the run then they wouldn’t be here. nearly crying because he likes a boy. 

oh.

hm.

“kwon fucking soonyoung,” he mutters.


	3. second half

something’s off.

soonyoung can feel it because he has let the ball go about three times in the first half and seungkwan hasn’t even raised his voice once. it’s honestly fucking with his own gameplay. it’s like at this point he counts on the coach screaming and yelling to play better.

as the team walks to the sides, he makes a beeline for seungkwan and grabs him by the arm. “hey coach,” he says, grinning as they leave the field.

“ow, _whyyy,_ ” seungkwan whines, but there’s no bite in it. he saw this coming.

they stop outside a bathroom, leaving the team’s chattering behind. soonyoung crosses his arms. “you tell me why,” he says.

he doesn’t elaborate because seungkwan immediately averts his gaze and his lower lip juts out in a pout.

“you are so dramatic, seungkwan-ah.”

“me? _me_ , i haven’t forgotten the story of how you and jihoon hyung got together, when you stopped going to class when you realized he--”

“we all know the story, thank you,” soonyoung interrupts. for another time. “so do you like him?”

soonyoung enjoys the few moments of seungkwan spluttering, trying to gather himself and failing completely. _mission accomplished_. “so what if i do?” he says defensively.

“you should tell him. shoot your shot.”

“haha. ha.”

“you don’t think he feels the same way about you?”

“idunno.”

soonyoung’s heart breaks in two. he’s seen the two of them this whole time, and he feels compelled to tell seungkwan that hansol smiles at him when he looks towards soonyoung murderously. that he’s fidgety, that he pushes his hair behind his ear when they talk, that he laughs extra loud at the ridiculous things he says. that every time he goes to grab seungkwan, he hesitates for a second and holds him in the gentlest way possible. he wants to remind seungkwan that the very glass of coffee he has in his hand was one of the many that hansol brought for him along with his own. he never brought coffee for wonwoo. just seungkwan.

but he doesn’t do that.

“c’mon, we have to get back to the field.”

⚽

 **jihoon hyung** hey kid do you wanna come to seungkwan’s birthday party  
oh my god sorry hansol jihoon has no skills  
hi its soonyoung! :D  
what he MEANT to say was we’re throwing seungkwan a surprise birthday party and we REALLY want you to come! it’s in two days so friday and presents aren’t mandatory but he loves them! don’t stress about it, because he really does love any and all presents and i’m SURE he’ll love anything you get him :)  
anyway please come he’d love to have you! and so would weeeeee

to: chwehansol@gmail.com  
from: kimminyoung@gmail.com

RE: Interview

Dear Hansol,

Thank you for your email! It was lovely to speak with you on the phone as well. Your resume is very impressive, which is why we would love to schedule an in-person interview with you tomorrow. Please let me know if you’d be up for that and we can discuss timings as well.

Thank you!

Kim Minyoung

⚽

seungkwan knows he shouldn't sulk. there's no reason to, after all – it's his birthday. his team and friends threw him a surprise birthday party, complete with karaoke and all his favorite food and joke birthday cake in the shape of a soccer field – fondant people included! too many little fondant people. it's just another reminder hansol isn't there, as if the fact that even in a room with eleven other people, seungkwan can tell someone’s missing.

there's a lot of alcohol too, because they're all idiots who don't care about their big game in a few days. he's made a decent sized dent in it himself – a sacrifice for the sake of his players' sports scholarships. he's just being a good coach. he started earlier when he got to the noraebang, searched for hansol in the group but couldn't find him. he figured with how close the guy is with all of his players, they would've asked him to come. even if they didn't ask as a friend, shouldn't he be there when seungkwan is around his team? that's his _job_.

“hey birthday boy,” jihoon now says, beer bottle in hand as seungkwan approaches him. soonyoung isn’t anywhere near him, opting to get on the karaoke mic. small blessings, because what seungkwan is about to ask is _embarrassing_ , and soonyoung would never let him live. “you look like you hate your surprise party, which makes no sense because you’ve been unsubtly hinting all year that you wanted one.”

“hi hyung,” seungkwan says, slumping against the wall. “out of curiosity, did you invite anyone else to this?”

jihoon seems to smirk, but wipes it off his face in a millisecond. takes a sip. “hm, i don’t know, is anyone unaccounted for?”

“ _hyung_ ,” seungkwan whines.

“i can neither confirm nor deny, sorry.”

that means hansol was invited, but it’s been an hour and a bit of this and he hasn’t showed up. cool.

he decides to get absolutely piss drunk. why not. it’s his party.

it’s when he makes the (socially) (for his dignity) mistake of mixing his drinks, too much soju with too much whiskey, and is wailing _ooh ahh_ that he vaguely hears a door somewhere open. probably more food. back to twice.

there are cheers coming from his left, and lots of chatter suddenly so he turns and – he can't have shit in this house. because of course hansol makes his way towards him, disheveled hair, in a _blazer_ , with a gift bag in one hand, a bottle of wine in another, laughing, breathless, effortlessly beautiful.

“seungkwan, hi!” he exclaims, spotting him. “happy birthday, i'm so sorry i was late.”

when he's within earshot, seungkwan mumbles a, “s'okay,” before handing his mic to seokmin. they’re not, but it really feels like everyone has stopped what they’re doing and are instead watching them. seungkwan does his best to ignore any potential stares, and raises his chin at hansol.

he holds up the gift bag. “i hope you like it,” he says.

seungkwan thanks him, the hair on his arm standing up from their fingers touching momentarily. ridiculous reaction considering that’s the least amount of contact they’ve had. he hates it here. “i open my gifts later, but come on, let me set up the wine and you can tell me why you weren’t on time.”

hansol laughs, scratching the back of his head nervously. they make their way to the drinks table, where seungkwan quickly pours him a glass of the punch soonyoung prepared that’s less punch, more...something that’s making his head spin way too much. “here.”

“i had a thing,” is all hansol says. he’s not meeting seungkwan’s eye. so of course he jumps to the worst conclusions. the only reason he would not tell him exactly where he was is because he was on a _date_. well, fine, whatever. see if seungkwan cares. because he _doesn’t_.

“a thing.”

“i couldn’t miss it.”

the rational part of his brain tells seungkwan that if hansol was on a date he wouldn’t have left it to come to a party. with the way he looks? he should’ve been on his way to an apartment to have the best sex of his life, but oh no, that’s a dangerous place to go to. never mind. he wants to open the present, but mingyu would kill him in cold blood if he broke tradition.

⚽

hansol has no idea what he did wrong – other than arriving late, he supposes.

the birthday boy hardly looks at him after handing him his drink. he jets off to the mic, and sings his heart out. which is great and all, but in his heart, he’d expected more...excitement. at the prospect of hanging out _not_ on the field.

seungkwan drunk is a Character. he’s flushed, and you wouldn’t be able to tell that he spends most of his time at work screaming bloody murder at soonyoung – with whom he is currently arm-in-arm, yelling the lyrics to _stronger_ by kelly clarkson. he turns around at the end of it to face all of them and strikes a pose for mingyu who’s ready with his camera.

maybe hansol's overthinking it. he's too wired from giving his interview so he’s going insane.

the interview. he seriously underestimated how much time he would have in between it and the party, and so embarrassingly showed up in his suit that he definitely sweated into, but he was also riding on a high because minyoung had smiled at the end of their meeting and told him things were looking good for him. he takes advantage of it and lets himself loose, grabbing a mic and singing a ballad or two with wonwoo.

but seungkwan isn’t talking to him. he’s stumbling around their room, and laughing loudly at jokes and receiving his birthday wishes and presents, and he looks so _good_ \- switching out his usual sweats and hoodies for a delicate silk shirt and trousers that did wonders for his already fantastic ass (not that hansol was looking on purpose) (shut up) - it took him aback slightly, and he’s still struggling to get over it.

he’s about two drinks down and not feeling much when jihoon comes up to him, with a seungkwan practically over his shoulder.

“is he okay?” hansol asks immediately, frowning at seungkwan’s limp figure.

jihoon nods. “he’d asked me to cut him off, but that point has been reached and breached because i lost him.”

“lost him.”

“he’s been running around and taking every shot offered to him like he’s hiding and avoiding something.” he looks at hansol meaningfully.

 _ah_. so he wasn’t acting normally. “why would he be avoiding me?”

jihoon shrugs. “i dunno, but you’re the least drunk person here, and he asked to be taken home, so i’m volunteering you as tribute.”

“i...what?” hansol is _so_ confused. even if he did, seungkwan would hate that hansol was taking him home. seeing as they’re not on speaking terms anymore or something. god, he’d be pissed.

“hansol please. take the hint.” jihoon rolls his eyes, as he passes on the slumped seungkwan to him, who’s murmuring incoherently.

“i don’t even know where he lives,” hansol protests.

“give me your phone, i’ll put in the address.”

it’s a bit of a struggle, because jihoon is tipsy enough that he can’t spell seungkwan’s neighborhood right for a good two minutes, but eventually gets there, and bids adieu to hansol.

“we’ll send over his presents tomorrow, tell him not to worry!”

-

seungkwan’s lightly breathing against hansol’s neck. it makes him twitch slightly, but it’s not exactly unwelcome.

the bus ride isn’t too smooth so he constantly bumps against seungkwan, stirring him occasionally but he seems too tired to open his eyes fully.

“did you have a good time?” hansol asks softly. just for something to do. he doesn’t _love_ when it gets too quiet.

“mmfh,” seungkwan replies, muffled and unintelligible.

“well, i had a lovely time. except for one thing. the host wasn’t the best, he barely spoke to me.”

seungkwan breathes through his mouth. hot air hits hansol’s neck, tickling him slightly. makes him smile.

“yeah, i know, right? super rude. i forgive him though, because he is the birthday boy. he should be allowed to do what he wants. truth is, i would probably let him do whatever regardless.” saying it out loud, hansol knows it to be true. he’s not really mad at seungkwan - how could he be?

“oh! i meant to tell you, if you were even speaking to me, i had an interview today, which is why i look like a potato.” he shakes his head. “i almost didn’t go. realized on the way there that if i get the job, i wouldn’t need this gig. which is so _stupid_ , but i’d be lying if i said i wouldn’t miss you guys.” he pauses between the _you_ and _guys_. “anyway, i think we’re at your stop, so let’s go.”

he doesn’t know what to do once they eventually get to seungkwan’s apartment. jihoon had informed him of the extra key under the ceramic sheep at the door, which he gets out with immense difficulty on account of a fully grown man leaning on him for support. hansol admires his dedication to being unconscious through all the jostling. the headache must be splitting.

“let’s get you to bed,” he murmurs, as they walk into the dark hallway.

his only light source is the streetlights from outside, but it’s a one bedroom so it’s obvious where he needs to go.

after getting seungkwan’s shoes off and tucking him in as best as he can, hansol takes one last look at him, breathing deeply, his face peeking ever so slightly over the covers.

he leaves, willing his heart to stop pounding so fast.

⚽

seungkwan is surprised that he wakes up in his own bed. blinks at the ceiling.

and then the pain hits him right in the temple.

“ _ugh_ ,” he moans into his pillow.

he has to remind himself that he decided to do this to himself, that there’s little point in regretting it. nice of whoever brought him home to do so. he asked for that too, but honestly expected to wake up cocooned between mingyu and minghao.

after stretching in bed, he immediately goes to check his phone when - there’s a glass of water covered by a coaster, a single aspirin and a folded note on top of it.

seungkwan picks up the note with one hand, pops the pill with the other and washes it down.

_happy birthday again. take this if you wake up at all in the morning. - hansol_

oh shit oh fuck oh _god_. he did not - why would hansol - he’s going to _kill_ whoever let this happen.

he picks up his phone, and opens his message threads. there’s over 100 messages on the team group chat, a few from his family group chat, late birthday wishes. he ignores them all and opens a new thread and sends a, _hey, thank you for bringing me home last night! and for the pill it’s helping a lot_. bites his lip, adds a smiley emoji, because he really is grateful.

he switches over to the group chat, ignores all the messages, types _WHY THE FUCK DO YOU ALL HATE ME SO MUCH!!!!!!!!_

in that time, hansol has replied: _no biggie. see you soon_

huh. he didn’t take hansol to be such a blunt texter. he sends back: _yes! so excited for the final!!!_

delivered. seen.

seen.

he’s pacing the whole apartment by the time jihoon and soonyoung show up with his pile of presents.

“hey, why do you look the way you did when i missed that one goal?” soonyoung asks, not bothering to say hello.

“i was disrespected,” seungkwan explains.

“i’m shocked.”

“by hansol.”

soonyoung’s eyes widen at that, but jihoon laughs.

“ _babe_ ,” soonyoung says, clearly as shocked by this reaction as seungkwan is.

jihoon shakes his head but his giggles die down as he says, “sorry, what did you expect exactly? you were being such a dick to him last night?”

 _he what_?

seungkwan starts. “what do you mean, i would never—”

“you didn’t speak two words to him. i think you sang a breakup song to him at one point. he tried so hard to talk to you, and you just zoomed away.”

it comes back to him in bits and pieces as jihoon narrates the night’s events to him. he vaguely recalls stopping mingyu’s concert to put on kelly clarkson to let his feelings be known. fuck knows why he wanted to do that, because now hansol hates him. this is awful.

jihoon and soonyoung try to cheer him up by sitting him down and helping unwrap presents. it kind of distracts him for a while, and some of their jokey ones bring a small smile to his face, but he can’t help but glance at his phone every two minutes to see if there’s a notification.

it never does come.

-

or, well. it does. at six pm, when seungkwan is preparing vegetable soup with udon noodles for his dinner, his phone _ting_ s at him. he looks at it while pouring his food into a bowl, and almost splashes hot soup all over him.

setting the pot down, and himself into a chair, he breathes in deeply.

_hey, sorry for leaving you hanging, i was visiting my mom she adopted a cat without telling us so ofc i had to take the train there super excited for the final toooooo go pelican-tigers! why are you guys called that anyway_

seungkwan laughs. the ancestors have his back, after all. as he slurps up soup, he types out his reply

_no worries!!! that’s so exciting actually you need to send me pictures ! it’s a long story, tbh. too long to type out_

thirty seconds later, his phone rings.

“i’m free,” hansol says, the second seungkwan picks up. he can hear the grin. all gums and teeth, so _cute_ seungkwan could cry. “are you tiger-pelican hybrids? what part tiger and what part pelican? why those two?”

“wow, i’ve never met someone so curious about this.”

“you’re telling me no one else has asked.”

“anyone who knows us has just accepted it, honestly.”

“well, i want to be let in on the secret!”

seungkwan chuckles, any and all tension leaving him, as it often does once he gets used to being in hansol’s magnetic field of sorts, feeling comfortable and at ease. “it’s actually _not_ that long of a story, i kind of deceived you on that. when we were deciding on the name for the team, soonyoung hyung wanted to be tigers because he thought they were cool, and jihoon hyung wanted to be pelicans because it’s unique.

“it was terrible. felt like we were watching their foreplay before they got together officially in front of our eyes. considered bleaching poor chan baby’s eyes.”

“oh my god.” hansol’s laughing so hard, he’s almost silent. “wait, so did they come to a compromise?”

“i wish,” seungkwan says, rolling his eyes. “everything they did to decide came up to a tie. every rock-paper-scissors game. every penalty round. we tried to vote and it didn’t work. eventually this led to them making out in _my office_.” the image of them and their noises coming from his room remain ingrained in his mind forever. “and they figured if they’re together then their animals could be too.”

“i’m _so_ sorry,” hansol says, but he doesn’t sound sorry in the least.

“yes, yes, laugh at my misery, everyone else does.”

they chat for a little bit more, time getting away from them. seungkwan asks hansol about his mom, who he seems to love a lot, because he’s perfect like that.

“she sent over sweets which i’ll bring for you guys tomorrow, of course. as part of the victory snacks when we win.”

“please, don’t jinx it,” seungkwan pleads. “wait. sweets. what’s the occasion?”

“oh...they. just as a pre-congratulations for a potential job offer.”

the noise that comes out of seungkwan’s mouth is indescribable. “ _why didn’t you tell me_ ,” he all but demands.

“i _tried_ ,” hansol replies, cutting the rant that was bubbling out of seungkwan off. “last night! i came straight from the interview but you wouldn’t. well.” he coughs. this is awkward. fuck’s sake.

he has to say something. clearly the fact that he spent the entire evening barely acknowledging hansol because he’s too pussy to be around his crush whilst inebriating wasn’t going to go unnoticed. it was out of self-preservation, damn it! but how could he tell hansol that? over the phone too! they deserve better than that. they deserved better than seungkwan blurting out some horny ass shit to hansol when he couldn’t control his tongue. so.

“oh...oh right.” he tries to rack his brain for an excuse. anything. “i’m _so_ sorry. to be _completely_ honest, i was annoyed at you.”

“what’d i dooooo?” the pout. seungkwan can _see_ it.

“well...look, okay, i thought you were invited and you bailed, and i was pissed so. i got very drunk.”

“i did not realize i had this effect on you, seungkwan.”

seungkwan splutters. “ _look_ , okay, it’s not like that, i was just excited to see you outside of our little arrangement, sorry if that’s a bad thing—”

hansol laughs, and it really is the most wonderful sound. they’re dangerously close to having a Conversation, and again, seungkwan isn’t sure he wants to have it over the phone, and also right before the final. where hansol will most likely _be_. ready to catch seungkwan in his _arms_.

but because he’s the best person ever, hansol accepts this excuse, doesn’t press any further, and they continue for a bit more. seungkwan asks about the interview, and hansol thinks there’s a good chance he’ll get it, and of course seungkwan is happy for him, so he tries his best to ignore the tiny voice in his head telling him that if he gets the job, he won’t see hansol again for a long time.

⚽

The Big One.

it’s here.

hansol has never seen the team so quiet.

they’d been at the stadium all day, practising, and warming up, and getting ready. no one provoked seungkwan for no reason at all, listening to his every word.

the game is going fairly well. no one has scored yet and it’s been about ten minutes. hansol - and wonwoo - stay close to seungkwan, who’s biting his nails as his eyes dart from player to player.

it’s a different kind of stressed - hansol wants to reach out and hold his hand. so he does.

“wh—”

hansol loosens his grip on seungkwan’s right hand but he doesn’t let go. instead, he holds it up slightly and rubs circles onto the back of it. “this helps me calm down sometimes,” he explains.

seungkwan gives him an unreadable look. but he doesn’t yank his hand away. just nods. “i’ve heard that somewhere.”

he continues the motion, and seungkwan - who was slightly shaking - seems visibly calmer, which is good. but hansol’s heart is doing somersaults, because it was such an impulse decision, the implications of his actions didn’t occur to him. they’re basically holding hands now.

he hopes seungkwan can’t feel how hot his skin suddenly gets, but he probably does.

this is much worse than having his arms engulf seungkwan, somehow. because after their phone call, he was forced to confront his feelings and it was _not_ fun, and jisoo laughed at him when he vomited out gross things about liking seungkwan’s red dyed hair, and how sometimes he lets him yell for a bit before grabbing him and that he _smells_ nice, and is a great conversationalist and has these little things that are just so _seungkwan_ , it was all so disgusting.

on top of everything he’s expecting a call about the job at some point. he needs someone to rub circles on his own hand.

⚽

they win 1-0 because kwon soonyoung is a lot of things - a pain in seungkwan’s ass about 80% of the time. but he’s a damn good striker, and he loves to win. he would not leave a game without proving both of these statements true.

as the crowd roars (literally - soonyoung’s fans are as insane as he is), the team run towards each other, tumbling and falling as they hug. wonwoo, seungkwan and hansol are there too, already on their way the second soonyoung made the goal.

at their victory meal, everyone sits at a long table, chattering away, sipping on their drinks as they wait for food when seungkwan gets up and clears his throat.

the noise dies down, and all eyes are on him.

“everyone, i wanted to say a few words,” he starts. “i know i’m hard on you. every game is important to me, and i make you treat every one of them like it’s the last one you ever will. but you know why i do it. this team that i’ve only had only for a little...we’ve been underdogs. we’ve been doubted. why? because we’re ‘too young’ and i ‘don’t understand the nuances of the game,’ and we ‘won’t make it too far’? look at us now.”

he glances at hansol on his left, who’s looking at him wide-eyed. he looks around at each face at the table. mingyu has tears in his eyes, and seungkwan knew he could count on him to be as emotional as he feels.

“anyway, i won’t bore you. i can see our food coming in, so feast my babies!”

“we are _all_ older than you, seungkwan,” comes seungcheol’s voice from the other end of the table.

-

it happens about fifteen minutes into the meal. a phone starts ringing.

“it’s mine,” hansol announces. he looks at the screen, and his expression changes.

“is it…” seungkwan asks, not wanting to finish the sentence. oh.

hansol nods, and as he answers, gets up and walks away to talk.

the rest of the team knows, and they all stop their conversations for the second time, as if they too want to know how much longer they have with him.

it’s the longest three minutes of seungkwan’s life it seems like. hansol eventually hangs up, turns around and comes back. his face is blank. only for a second though, because then he breaks out into the biggest grin, and nods. “i got it,” he says.

a few things happen: the whole team bangs the table surface in celebration, and everyone closest to hansol get up to pat him on the back, but none of them are as a quick as seungkwan who gets up and flings himself onto hansol, arms around his neck and hugging him so tight.

“i’m so happy for you,” he says into hansol’s ear.

“you’re just happy to be rid of me,” hansol quips. “don’t lie - you’ll miss these guns.”

seungkwan lets go and scowls at him. “you’re not cute when you do that, you know.” pauses, then says, “so what if i will?” he pretends not to notice hansol glancing at his lips for a second.

“oh my god, can you just kiss, we’re so _tired_.”

“that is rich coming from you, lee jihoon...hyung,” seungkwan says weakly, looking at the goalie. he sticks his tongue out at them all, turns back to hansol, grabs his face, and kisses him. it’s a bit, well — he hits hansol’s teeth, because he won’t stop _laughing_ , he’s embarrassing seungkwan, please, but eventually they do kiss properly, and it feels like the biggest weight has been lifted from his shoulder and he knows this isn’t goodbye; rather a new beginning, and he can’t wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> u can follow me on [twt](http:twitter.com/outrofearless)! i scream abt these two and others A Lot on there. 
> 
> thank u for reading, i appreciate every one of you!!! the most special thank u to [greymooses](https://archiveofourown.org/users/greymooses) for keeping me sane through this process, honestly, i was so close to deleting it and pretending it never existed and i would've without her. pls love her too she's incredible and has written some of my favorite works ever 
> 
> feel free 2 leave kudos and comments as well, i love to know ur thoughts! see u soon in heist land perhaps 👀


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